In recent years, major Japanese frozen vegetable development importers have envisioned South America as a new production area. The reason is that relations with China, which is the main production area, have changed and it is necessary to diversify risks. However, it has not been implemented in earnest yet. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the conditions and causes for this. The research compares this new potential with contemporary Chinese production, focusing on quality and price. Analysis included the case of Japan’s largest company specializing in Development Import, which is also developing and importing in Ecuador. The research revealed that Ecuadorian products have a very low advantage over Chinese products at this time. However, Ecuadorian producers were also found to be fully accepting the guidance of a major Japanese Development Importer to solve various problems. In the medium to long term, there is a possibility that the destination countries for development and import will expand to South America.

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Wholesale markets now play a pivotal role in distribution channels from places of production to consumer markets through a range of diverse functions. Owing to various distribution paradigms surrounding wholesale markets, however, polarization between the central wholesale market and the local wholesale markets has become more severe even within the wholesale markets, while the competitive edge of the wholesale markets has gradually deteriorated and the market dominance of wholesale markets has steadily declined. It is with this background in mind that this study pays attention to pre-determined price-negotiated transactions as a measure to enhance efficiency of transactions in order to solve diverse problems surrounding the wholesale markets and to deal with the polarization between the central wholesale market and the local wholesale markets. Pre-determined price-negotiated transaction induces stable trade between places of production and consumers by compensating for the shortcomings of the auction system, thereby alleviating price volatility and contributing to the promotion of the interests for consumers and producers alike.

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In recent years, fruit and vegetable wholesale markets in China’s consumption areas have been greatly affected by internet sales. This paper outlines the actual sales situation of Chinese fruit wholesalers and their correspondence to online retailers, which previous studies have not presented, and then clarifies the factors of wholesalers’ correspondence to online sellers. In the Yurun Wholesale Market in Xi’an, which is the subject of the survey, the rate of wholesalers’ correspondence to online retailers jumped from 27% in 2019 to 65% in 2020, while at the same time, wholesalers saw their sales decline about 36% in 2020. According to the estimation results from the survey data, ‘wholesalers whose sales in 2019 decreased from the previous year’ and ‘wholesalers who believe a greater impact of internet sales’ tended to be more responsive to online retailers in 2020. It can also be said that many of the wholesalers who began corresponding to online sellers in 2020 experienced a decrease in sales in 2019.

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